Falkon SMS vs iPlum [The Honest Comparison for Healthcare Teams]

If you run a medical practice, therapy office, pharmacy, or home care agency, you already know that patients respond to text messages far faster than phone calls or emails. But texting protected health information (PHI) through a regular messaging app can expose your organization to serious HIPAA penalties. That is why purpose built platforms like Falkon SMS and iPlum exist.

Both platforms sign a Business Associate Agreement (BAA), encrypt messages, and serve healthcare providers. Yet they solve the problem in very different ways. Falkon SMS adds secure, HIPAA compliant texting to the business number your patients already know. iPlum gives you a brand new second phone number that lives as an app on your mobile phone.

This guide compares both platforms across compliance, features, pricing, support, and ideal use cases so you can choose with confidence.

Why HIPAA Compliant Texting Matters

Standard SMS was never designed for healthcare. Messages travel unencrypted, sit on personal devices, and leave no audit trail. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services enforces HIPAA violations with civil penalties that can climb into millions of dollars per year for repeated violations, according to HHS.gov.

For texting to be HIPAA compliant, your vendor and workflow need several things in place.

•        A signed Business Associate Agreement (BAA) between you and the texting provider

•        Encryption of messages in transit and at rest

•        Access controls so only authorized staff can view conversations

•        Audit trails and message archiving for accountability

•        Patient consent management with clear opt in and opt out handling

Falkon SMS and iPlum both check these boxes at the platform level. The differences show up in how they fit into your day to day operations. You can read more about the underlying requirements on the Falkon SMS SMS compliance software page.

Falkon SMS and iPlum at a Glance

	Falkon SMS	iPlum
Core approach	Text enables your existing landline, VoIP, toll free, or Microsoft Teams number	Provides a new dedicated second number on your mobile phone
HIPAA with BAA	Yes, on the Pro plan	Yes, on the Professional plan
Security certification	SOC 2 Type I certified	SOC 2 Type II
Best for	Practices and teams that want patients to text the office number they already call	Solo practitioners who want a separate work line with calling on their personal phone
Apps	iOS, Android, Windows, macOS, web, Chrome extension, Microsoft Teams	iOS, Android, web access on higher plans
Voice calling	Texting first, optional VoIP calling plan available	Included, with phone tree and voicemail
Free trial	Yes, no credit card required	Paid signup

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What Is Falkon SMS

Falkon SMS is a business texting platform from Falkon Systems, a Texas based company serving healthcare providers, law firms, home care agencies, and financial advisors across the US and Canada since 2021. Its core promise is simple. Instead of handing you a new number, Falkon SMS text enables the landline, VoIP, toll free, or Microsoft Teams number your practice already uses. There is no porting and no hardware change, and your voice service stays exactly where it is.

That matters in healthcare because patients trust the number they already have saved. When appointment reminders and follow ups come from your main office line, reply rates go up and confusion goes down. Falkon SMS supports clinics, pharmacies, mental health centers, home care, and hospice organizations, among others.

Key Falkon SMS Features

• HIPAA compliant messaging with a signed BAA on the Pro plan, plus SOC 2 Type I certification

• Secure chat and secure file sharing for exchanging sensitive information

• Unlimited one to one texting on paid plans, subject to fair usage

• Shared team inbox so front desk staff can manage patient conversations together

• Group broadcasts, scheduled and recurring messages, templates, keyword auto replies, MMS, and custom tags

• Opt in and opt out management, global opt out, blocklists, log exports, and scheduled reports

• Managed 10DLC registration so your campaigns stay compliant and deliverable

• Integrations with Microsoft Teams, Slack, Webex, HubSpot, and Clio

• Apps for iOS, Android, Windows, macOS, the web, and a Chrome extension

What Is iPlum

iPlum is a mobile first business phone service based in Santa Clara, California. It gives you a dedicated second phone number, either a local US or Canada number or a toll free number, that runs as an app on your existing smartphone with its own caller ID, ringtone, and notifications. Alongside texting, iPlum includes a full calling stack with a phone tree, voicemail, business hours routing, and an optional HIPAA compliant fax line.

iPlum is popular with therapists, solo physicians, and independent professionals who want to keep work and personal communication separate without carrying a second device. HIPAA compliance with a BAA is available on the Professional plan and above.

Key iPlum Features

•        Dedicated second number with calling and texting for the US and Canada

•        HIPAA compliance and a signed BAA on the Professional plan

•        Secure encrypted texting through the mobile app or an app less online channel for clients

•        Phone tree, auto attendant, voicemail transcription, and business hours rules

•        Group text, broadcast text, scheduled texts, templates, and text to email

•        Text archiving for one year on Professional, ten years on Enterprise

•        Call recording with consent announcements on the Enterprise plan

•        Optional HIPAA compliant electronic fax plans

The Core Difference. Your Existing Number or a New Number

Almost every other difference between these platforms flows from one architectural choice.

Falkon SMS keeps your identity: Patients text the same number they call. Your front desk answers from a shared inbox on desktop or mobile, and nothing about your phone system changes. This is ideal for established practices where the office number is printed on cards, prescriptions, and signage.

iPlum creates a new identity: You get a fresh number that rings and texts inside an app on your phone. This is ideal when you do not want patients contacting your office line at all, for example a therapist in private practice who wants a dedicated work line on a personal device.

Ask yourself one question. Do you want patients texting the number they already know, or do you want a brand new separate line? Your answer points to your platform.

Feature Comparison

Compliance and Security

Both vendors take compliance seriously. Falkon SMS pairs HIPAA compliant messaging and a signed BAA with SOC 2 Type I certification, immutable logs, opt out enforcement, and secure file sharing. iPlum offers a BAA on Professional and above, encrypted texting, and long term archiving options, and lists SOC 2 Type II security compliance.

One practical note. On iPlum, standard plan users do not get HIPAA coverage, so make sure every user who touches PHI is on Professional or higher. On Falkon SMS, HIPAA compliance with a BAA comes with the Pro plan.

Texting Capabilities

Day to day texting features are close. Both platforms support two way texting, templates, scheduled messages, group broadcasts, MMS, and automatic replies. Falkon SMS adds unlimited one to one texting on paid plans, custom tags for personalization at scale, keyword replies, and campaign level broadcast tools. iPlum counters with text to email forwarding and its app less secure texting channel, which lets clients receive secure messages without installing anything.

Team Collaboration

This is where the platforms diverge sharply. Falkon SMS is built for teams. A shared inbox lets multiple staff members see and answer patient messages from one number, with signatures, assignments through tags, and full message history. iPlum offers number sharing and cloud based team accounts, but the experience is designed primarily around one professional using one number on one phone.

Calling

iPlum wins on voice. Calling is part of every plan, with a phone tree, extensions, voicemail transcription, and call recording on Enterprise. Falkon SMS is a texting first platform. It leaves your existing voice service untouched, which most practices consider a feature, and offers a separate VoIP calling plan if you want cloud calling from the same vendor.

Integrations and Apps

Falkon SMS covers more surfaces. You can text from Windows, macOS, the web, iOS, Android, a Chrome extension, and directly inside Microsoft Teams, with integrations for Slack, Webex, HubSpot, and Clio. iPlum runs on iOS and Android with web calling and texting on the Professional plan, and offers REST APIs as a paid add on. If your staff works at desks all day, desktop coverage is a meaningful difference.

Pricing Comparison

Both platforms price per user per month with discounts for annual billing. Here is how they line up when billed annually.

Plan tier	Falkon SMS	iPlum
Entry plan	$14.99 Essential. Unlimited 1 to 1 texting, 250 group credits. No HIPAA	$8.99 Standard. Calling and texting. No HIPAA
HIPAA plan	$24.99 Pro. HIPAA compliant with BAA, 500 group credits, secure chat and file sharing	$14.99 Professional. HIPAA with BAA, encrypted texting, 1 year archive
Top plan	Enterprise. Custom pricing, tailored SLA, dedicated success manager	$25.99 Enterprise. Call recording, 10 year archive
Monthly billing	$17.99 Essential, $29.99 Pro	$13.99 Standard, $20.99 Professional, $25.99 Enterprise
Registration costs	10DLC registration at $10 per month per campaign, optional $30 one time expedited fee, handled for you	TCR registration $20 one time fee per business
Extras	Free trial with no credit card, nonprofit discount, add on credit packs that never expire	Toll free number $5 per month extra, global credits for international use

On raw price, iPlum reaches HIPAA compliance for less at $14.99 versus $24.99 per user. But the comparison is not one to one. The iPlum figure buys a single user mobile line, while the Falkon SMS Pro plan buys unlimited one to one texting from your existing business number with a shared inbox your whole front desk can use, plus secure file sharing. For a team of any size, the per user value tilts toward Falkon SMS. Full details are on the Falkon SMS pricing page.

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Customer Support and Reliability

Support quality matters more in healthcare than almost any other industry, because a texting outage can mean missed appointments and unreachable patients.

iPlum provides email based support on all plans and adds live Zoom sessions on Professional and Enterprise. Independent review platforms paint a mixed picture. Users praise its ease of use and HIPAA features, while recurring complaints on sites like Trustpilot and G2 mention slow ticket responses, texting reliability issues, and billing disputes.

Falkon SMS reviewers on G2 and Capterra frequently highlight a responsive support team, smooth onboarding, and hands on help with 10DLC registration, which is often the most confusing part of business texting. The company also publishes customer case studies from healthcare and home care organizations.

As with any vendor decision, review experiences vary by user, so run a trial with your own workflows before committing.

Who Should Choose iPlum

iPlum is a strong fit if the following describes you.

• You are a solo practitioner who wants one dedicated work line with calling, texting, and voicemail on your personal phone

• You need a phone tree, auto attendant, or call recording more than team texting features

• You want an optional HIPAA compliant fax line from the same vendor

• You are starting fresh and do not have an established business number patients already use

Who Should Choose Falkon SMS

Falkon SMS is the better fit if any of these apply.

• Your patients already know and trust your office number, and you want them to text that same number

• Multiple staff members need to see and answer patient messages from a shared inbox

• Your team works on desktops or inside Microsoft Teams and needs texting where they already work

• You send appointment reminders and follow ups at volume and want unlimited one to one texting

• You want a vendor that manages 10DLC compliance end to end

• You use HubSpot, Slack, Webex, Clio, or Microsoft Teams and want native integrations

Getting Started Without Disruption

Switching to Falkon SMS requires no hardware changes and no porting. Your number stays with your current voice provider, and texting is layered on top, usually within a few business days including carrier registration. There is a free trial with no credit card required, so your team can test the shared inbox, templates, and scheduling against real workflows before paying anything. You can explore the full capability list on the features page.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Falkon SMS HIPAA compliant?

Yes. Falkon SMS offers HIPAA compliant texting with a signed Business Associate Agreement on its Pro plan, along with SOC 2 Type I certification, secure chat, secure file sharing, and audit friendly logging.

Is iPlum HIPAA compliant?

Yes, on the right plan. iPlum provides HIPAA compliance and a BAA on its Professional and Enterprise plans. The entry level Standard plan does not include HIPAA coverage.

Can I keep my existing phone number?

With Falkon SMS, yes. It text enables your existing landline, VoIP, toll free, or Microsoft Teams number without porting. iPlum instead assigns you a new dedicated number that runs in its app.

Which is cheaper for HIPAA compliant texting?

iPlum has the lower entry price for HIPAA at $14.99 per user per month billed annually, versus $24.99 for Falkon SMS Pro. Falkon SMS includes unlimited one to one texting, a multi user shared inbox, and desktop apps at that price, which often makes it the better value for teams.

Do both platforms sign a Business Associate Agreement?

Yes. Both Falkon SMS and iPlum sign a BAA on their HIPAA eligible plans. A signed BAA is a legal requirement before any vendor can handle protected health information on your behalf.

Is regular SMS HIPAA compliant?

No. Standard SMS is unencrypted and offers no access controls or audit trails, so texting PHI over a regular messaging app violates HIPAA. You need a compliant platform with a BAA, encryption, and consent management.

What is 10DLC registration and who handles it?

10DLC is the carrier mandated registration system for businesses texting US customers from local numbers. Unregistered traffic gets filtered or blocked. Falkon SMS manages the entire registration process for its customers, while iPlum requires a one time TCR registration fee of $20 per business.

Do I need patient consent to text patients?

Yes. Best practice under HIPAA and TCPA is to obtain and document patient consent before texting, keep messages minimal in PHI content, and honor opt out requests immediately. Both platforms include opt in and opt out tooling.

Final Verdict

Both products are legitimate HIPAA compliant texting options, and the right choice depends on how you work. If you are a solo professional who mainly needs a separate calling line with secure texting attached, iPlum will serve you well at a lower entry price.

For most healthcare practices, clinics, and care teams, Falkon SMS is the stronger choice.

Patients text the office number they already trust, your whole team collaborates in one shared inbox across desktop and mobile, one to one texting is unlimited, and 10DLC compliance is handled for you. Add SOC 2 certification, secure file sharing, and integrations with the tools practices already use, and Falkon SMS delivers more of what a growing healthcare organization actually needs from HIPAA compliant text messaging.

The easiest way to decide is to try it against your real workflows. Falkon SMS offers a free trial with no credit card required, so you can see how texting from your existing number feels before spending a dollar. Book a quick demo or start your trial today.

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